St. Paul firefighters walk along side a home where a man died in a fire at 752 Lexington Avenue North in St. Paul. The home lacked large enough windows for the victim to escape, said St. Paul's fire marshal. (Photo: Chris Polydoroff)

Firefighters at the scene of a fatal house fire at 752 Lexington Parkway N., St. Paul around 7:30 a.m. on Nov. 24. Photo by Peter Matthews

One man died Sunday morning in a fire that began with careless smoking in the basement of a St. Paul home, the St. Paul fire marshal said. Eight other people escaped.

Preliminary information from the medical examiner identified the victim only as “Gumtoro,” 38, and that he died from smoke inhalation, St. Paul police said. The cause of the fire was “careless smoking in bed,” according to police. He was sleeping in the basement, which lacked a window large enough to escape through, said Fire Marshal Steve Zaccard. Three smoke alarms were disconnected.

Firefighters were called to the home at the corner of Lexington and Englewood avenues about 7:45 a.m. The five adults and three children who escaped — after being alerted by smoke detectors — were members of a family who lived in the home; Gumtoro was a friend who was visiting, Zaccard said.

“The fire flashed over everything at once,” Zaccard said. “And once it flashes over, there’s no way to survive that.”

Another man tried to go back in the house to save Gumtoro but it was too hot, Zaccard said. He singed his hair but wasn’t injured. No others were hurt.

There was no immediate estimate on the damage to the one-story rambler, but Zaccard said the fire damage was limited to the basement.

Sunday’s death was the third fire fatality in St. Paul this year, Zaccard said.

“A message here is to check your detectors, because those detectors saved the lives of the people who were alerted to the fire,” Zaccard said.

The American Red Cross is assisting the family who managed to escape. The organization provides disaster relief for immediate recovery needs, such as shelter, clothing and emotional support.

Red Cross spokesman Jim Seitz said the Red Cross assisted 16 people from four families over the weekend. He said families were displaced after fires damaged residences on the 2300 block of Johnson Street NE in Minneapolis and on the 1300 block of Arkwright Street in St. Paul on Saturday.

St. Paul firefighters responded to a second residential blaze Sunday morning at a duplex at Charles Avenue and St. Albans Street. Zaccard said the fire started in a chicken coop attached to the house.

The fire was confined to the southwest corner of the building’s lower level and was extinguished before 10 a.m. Paramedics treated one person for minor smoke inhalation, the fire marshal said.

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